Its Unfortunate So Much HRE Fanwork Is Around Him And His ~unrequited Love~ With Chibitalia, Extending

☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼

every time i see a dumbfuck in this fandom fundamentally misunderstand whatever may possibly be the problem with the prevailing characterisation of hetalia ukraine and her relationship with russia and belarus the urge to gatekeep her and preferably all of eastern european characters gets stronger

Hetalia Ukraine Headcanon #1: hair colour

…or new unexpected and un-asked for series, where I yap in detail about one headcanon on physical appearence, personality or history of my Ukraine interpretation at a time

This has been a thing that confused the hell out of me for ages, because her hair colour in the anime & official art exists on a spectrum from grey to white to blonde to ash blonde to yellow ??? (which may or may not be due to an art style change and had hapenned to 75% of characters at least) but REGARDLESS, I decided to put a twist on it

So, in my vision, her hair colour is best-described as «світло-русявий натуральний колір волосся»; which would, as per most suitable photos I found on the internet, loosely mean this:

So, you see; blonde, but not really blonde; depends on the lighting; the best English equivalent to «світло-русявий» my brain could think of was a borderline between «dark blonde», «light brown» and «ash-blonde», which coincidentally could all be applied to describe Ukraine’s hair in different depictions at different points

Furthermore, many Ukrainians on my experience would describe their hair as «русяве», ranging from темно-русяве for darker colours, to світло-русяве for lighter, to the point where it seems like a safe option in case your hair is not exactly dark or not 100% light and you are not sure what to reply. And even in folklore you’ll find a «руса коса до пояса»; «русява коса – дівоча краса»; or occasionally hair being compared to gold as well, i.e. «ой у полі жито, а в дівчини коса золота», translating too «there was wheat in the field, a girl had a golden braid» (more to come on her hairstyle!!)

by the way WHEAT. YET ANOTHER WAY I LIKE TO THINK OF HER HAIR COLOUR, is that it has the colour of wheat

I know you know what wheat looks like, just a moment of appreciation

And finally — Ukraine’s русявий hair colour changes slightly throughout the year! In the summer, when she gets lots of sun, it bleaches Ukraine’s hair a bit (UV light breaks down melanin in the hair blah blah blah); moreover it looks lighter in contrast to the skin tan she gets (again, we’ll get to this later); compared to winter when the tan fades and the hair would look visibly darker due to less sun exposure. And I mean like:

So, to sum up, I see Ukraine’s hair colour as „світло-русявий”, something closest to „dark blonde”, „light brown”, „ash blonde” or simply „wheat colour”, which tends to look darker in winter due to less sun exposure and lighter in the summer ;)

by the way fun fact, I’m NOT ignoring your guys’ asks; I just wanna draw something for each and do them justice, which happens to require some time (!!!)

have you talked about why her last name is chernenko? id love to hear about it!

[upd: it turned out that Himaruya never listed a name for her in the original post, just in the wiki; so this post is kinda irrelevant]

That’s a good question, I’ve got no idea tbh🎉

I know Himaruya listed this as a surname he liked for Ukraine; and etymologically, surnames ending in –enko are typical for the country (I’ve got one lol)

One theory states that this surname specifically comes from the old-Ukrainian word for "black", "черний/chernyi", which evolved into modern-Ukrainian "чорний/chornyi". That’s why I am contemplating between Chernenko and Chornenko for her

It also might be a reference to one of the ex-soviet leaders who had the surname Chernenko and I REALLY HOPE it isn’t he wasn’t even Ukrainian ew wtf (😭😭)

“Ah how good that we only live once! Had it been twice, I wouldn’t have fuckin’ handled it”

drawing Ukraine into Ukrainian memes as self care (original under the cut)

i mawst apologeize fowr zhe lack of origgginal cowntwnt on zhis blog lateaealy, art hasn’t been arting and life not exactly lifing either. also my birthday is in less than a week and the very idea is terrifying.

прікол я спочатку думала що ʼхуй потягнувʼ типу…буквально потягнув. як мʼяз(?). не знаю чи це щось про мене говорить.

what is the relationship between 1p and 2p ukr like?

to say at least, complicated…

…so this is still prety much a sketch, a WIP, I’m still working on their relationship and characterisation and things might change later! but as for now, here’s a vision

separate chibis, I’ll throw them at you and run

I like u, have a Ukraine sketch👉🏼

I feel like this song is very much her-coded, but here is also a version without my shitty handwriting on the sketch

HEHEHEHEHE NOT TO MENTION I LOST IT READING THE LETTER ITSELF

turkraine to me is the (sadly fake) letter the zaporozhian cossacks sent the sultan mehmet iv of the ottoman empire

Hetalia Ukraine Headcanon #2 – or, rather, my take on Ukraine in Hetalia canon.

upd: I might have worded it a bit shitty, but the entire purpose of this post is that „canon/common fannon“ uwu crybaby Ukraine is bulshit and fuck canon we ball anyway. That I will be re-creating her character the way I want, and that‘s literally it. Damn. Pls don‘t misinterpret things, I‘m not defending Himaruya or anything

This is something that has to be clarified before I proceed, and even before I answer to any further asks.

I think of Ukraine in „canon Hetalia" as Russia's perspective, what he tells others about Ukraine and what he wants them to think of her, for his own purposes.

Because, if you recall, the episode where she is introduced (Axis Powers, ep 42), it is Russia telling England about her. Just like episode 43, it's Russia's memories and perspective. I hate that this fact is often overlooked, as it makes total sense for Russia to want others to see Ukraine as a weak crybaby that is dependant on him. In fact, this no shit is the attitude russians have to ukrainians. Almost inferior, (quote) unable to fend for themselves. It is not cute. It is very much toxic. The scarf moment is extremely fucking funny. Because, (and again, this is Russia's memories), Ukraine gives him her favorite scarf. But what people overlook, is that in return she asks (in dub) FOR CONTROL FROM BLACK SEA TO POLAND. HER TERRITORIES. THIS- THIS IS NOT A CUTE MOMENT. SHE IS TRYING TO GET AWAY. AS SHE ALWAYS HAS. FOR CENTURIES. Or, in sub, she asks for „inheritance rights to Kyivan Rus", so again, reclaiming a part of her identity. After which, russia concludes that maybe they've never been close at all. srsl I wish russia realised that in real life and fucked off already

To me, this is the first moment that shows that there is much more to Ukraine than what we see, and that Russia must in no way be trusted on his word when it comes to her.

Especially since In her next appearence, Gakuen Hetalian Newspaper Club part 1, Ukraine is nothing like that. She wants to join the choir club, where the baltic trio and others are, and we find out that the choir is targeted by the so-called „soviet club". Lmao. Nor she is in any of the Halloween episodes she appears in subsequently. Moreover, in the 2013 haloween series, Ukraine is shown dressed up as a reference to a Ukrainian(!!!) urban legend about a ghost train. So, she is not afraid to express her identity even at that point. Yes, she is emotional, but not a complete mess of a crybaby whose every 1 in 2 words is „Russia". Which further backs my theory.

The latest appearence, where in Chapter 389 of Hetalia world stars, Ukraine asks Lithuania to „sent spare paper Russias" to her if he ever gets any, because, quote „THIS RUSSIA IS OBEDIENT, QUIET, AND LISTENS TO WHAT I SAY".

Does this sound like a weak crybaby Ukraine whom Russia was describing to you?

No. That's the point.

Btw the only point in history I can think of where she could be referring to when she says it's „like we've gone back in time", is 7th - 10th century; when the principality of Suzdal (later: Muscovy→Russia) was just freshly colonized by Kyiv and Polatsk (later Ukraine and Belarus) and was paying fiefs to them. Which is like, literally 40 years before Suzdal’s prince plundered and burnt Kyiv down in 1169. A first russo-ukrainian war for you.

So, even from "canon hetalia", the idea of Ukraine's character that this fandom often percieves her as derives mostly from Russia's POV. Which is sad, ironic (represents the influence of russian propaganda irl), but also thanks fuck, this means we see so little of her that her personality can be easily interpreted in a multitude of ways that reflect history and reality way better

idk if its a hot take, just a dilemma that makes me stand borderline on quitting the fandom.

Is re-interpreting a really badly portrayed character, but still leaving them within hetalia «frameworks» does worse in the long term as it is still supporting Himaruya’s shitty portrayal, or is it for better, as it is better for a re-interpreted version to exist at all then to not exist? damn.

~ (¯´★`¯)